Something I’ve wondered for a while now (sorry if this has been already brought up) - how exactly did the whole “night Aussie TV lost its virginity” term come into being to describe Number 96’s premiere? Was it coined at the time by 0-10, Crawfords or the press, or did it come about a few years later?
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It was the headline in TEN10’s newspaper ads on the day of the first episode. Though apparently some newspapers objected to the use of the word “virginity” and instead used the worse “innocence”.
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16 March 1986: SBS extends transmission to Hobart and Perth, completing the roll-out of the network to all the state capital cities.
Source: The Mercury
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18 March 1974: The Seven Network debuts evening soapie, Class Of '74, the first drama series to come from producer Reg Grundy, who’d made most of his fortune from game shows. In some cities it debuts at 7.00pm, bumping the top-rating Great Temptation to the 8.30pm timeslot in an attempt to dethrone Number 96. The Great Temptation was axed by the end of the year, and Class Of '74 despite getting off to a strong ratings start, did not fare well when it continued as Class Of '75 the following year.
18 March 1985: The Seven Network launches its latest soap, Neighbours, also from Grundys. Not much has been heard of this show ever since 
Source: The Advertiser
Source: The Courier Mail
Source: The Sun News-Pictorial
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Good joke man.
27 March 1998 – 25 years ago: Darwin’s second commercial channel, Seven Darwin, is officially opened. The station was operated by Telecasters North Queensland, which owned Ten Queensland.
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31 March 1989: The launch day for aggregation in Southern NSW/ACT, with Prime (Orange/Dubbo/Wagga Wagga) launching in Canberra and Wollongong; WIN extending to Canberra; and Capital extending into Wollongong – Giving Wollongong and Canberra three commercial channels. Delays in telecom infrastructure delayed WIN and Capital extending into Prime’s solus market for another 9 months.
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On this date a decade ago, SBS relaunched SBS TWO to target a younger audience. The channel was simply known as SBS2.
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5 April 1965: TEN10, Sydney’s third commercial station, is officially opened.
5 April 1983: Starting Out, the Grundy-produced soap to replace The Young Doctors, debuts on GTV9.
Source: TV Week
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17 April 1976: The cover date of the last Listener In-TV, ending over 50 years of the Listener In name. The following week, it becomes Scene (later TV Scene). It continued publication until 1987.
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24 April 1988: QSTV, the remote commercial television service (RCTS) serving remote Queensland, is officially opened. The channel was operated by Telecasters North Queensland, which ran NQTV in Townsville/Cairns. It is now an affiliate of the Seven Network covering remote Eastern and Central Australia and VAST.
Source: The Sunday Mail / Scene On TV
24 April 2001: The first series of Big Brother debuts on Ten.
Source: TV Week
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29 April 1963 – 60 years ago today. ABC’s first country TV station, ABEV1 Bendigo, is officially opened.
The channel launched with a mix of programming on direct relay from ABV2, with some local opt-out programming (marked *) for opening day. Starting from the next day it was pretty much a straight ABV2 relay apart from the 6.55 regional news.
3pm Test Pattern, Music
4.45 Kindergarten Showcase
5pm Monday Showcase
6pm On Safari With Armand Denis *
6.30 People: Bendigo Edition *
6.55 Regional News *
7pm ABC News, Newsreel, Weather. Keith Glover
7.30 Dr Kildare
8.15 Official Opening ABEV1
8.30 Ice Circus
9pm Tahiti: Pacific Cocktail *
9.50 Twice A Citizen *
10pm Late News
10.10 Four Corners *
10.30 Victorian Symphony Orchestra *
11.05 Close
Source: TV Times
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Saturday 30 April 1988 the opening of World Expo.
TVO’s News broadcast live from World Expo(@1:47); video also includes report of the news set up; GMA promo; promo for that night’s concert simulcast with FM104; Everyone’s a Star in My Town station ident.
Afternoon coverage of opening
Opening night telecast
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I can’t believe it’s been 35 years since the World Expo opened in Brisbane. It transformed the South Bank area of the city, and its impact can still be felt and seen today.
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I wanted to go to Expo but never was able to. The closest I got was watching the occasional This Week At Expo episode though it was sometimes hard to catch as ATV10 moved it around the schedule a bit. It used to shift between very early on Sunday mornings or very late on Sunday nights! It was initially hosted by Anna McMahon and then by reporter Fiona Crawford.
My nana did go to Brisbane for Expo, she brought me back a ‘passport’ that had pages stamped from the various exhibits.
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It was comparatively inexpensive to go with a multi-day pas you could go as many times as you liked. It was very interesting to be able to watch a news bulletin go to air live. In addition to the 6pm bulletin there was also the morning news. I recall noticing how much down time there was for the readers who introduced the packages then sat there waiting for the next turn. Also, I can vividly remember the amazing picture quality on the studio monitors; far better than anything you would normally see on a domestic TV.
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I vaguely recall seeing the 10.30am news in Melbourne coming from Expo.
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Mid morning news from Expo
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